This month signals the 15th anniversary of FIFA’s Fair Play Day, launched in 1997, with the campaign all across the globe kicking off a couple of weeks ago at the semi-finals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Japan and eventually won by the United States, 1-0 against Germany in the final, while the campaign also took place during the official international match dates over last weekend and this week. FIFA President Sepp Blatter commenting on the launch of the 16th annual FIFA Fair Play Day campaign that: “Fair play should be an attitude that we all subscribe to. As they are role models, I appeal to all players, officials and fans to play fair – on the pitch and off the pitch, during a game and in their everyday lives.”
It’s been even longer though since the first FIFA Fair Play Award was handed out, that coming in 1987 with up to three awards being given out every year since, apart from 1994 when everyone must have been very naughty indeed and had to stand in the corner facing the wall. Personally I think it would only have been fair to award it that year to Diana Ross in an attempt to cheer her up after she toe-ended that penalty wide in the opening ceremony of the World Cup. On the other side of the coin though I don’t think John Aldridge would have been in the running for the award, remember his substitution tirade against the fourth official in the Republic of Ireland’s defeat against Mexico?
As for actual winners of the award from the British Isles is concerned, well that first 1987 trophy went to Dundee United for their fans’ behaviour as, following a two-legged UEFA Cup Final 2-1 defeat they stayed behind en masse at Tannadice to share in Gothenburg's celebrations, as much as they applauded their own team's efforts. Three years later and it was Gary Lineker who was presented with the award after seeing out 15 years as a professional footballer without receiving a yellow or red card, which you have to say is a truly remarkable feat, although to be fair he may have picked up a few yellow cards on twitter in recent years if such things existed.
It took another seven years for another award to hit the shores of the British Isles though when in 1997 the fans of the national team of the Republic of Ireland picked up a gong for “their exemplary behaviour at Ireland team matches, especially the FIFA World Cup qualifying play-offs against Belgium.” The award then moving north twelve months later for the Irish Football Association, which represents football in Northern Ireland, with a symbolic gesture for many other countries which had found themselves in a comparable situation. The Irish FA honoured for its continuing efforts to reunite the Catholic and Protestant communities.
Speaking of which, 2003 saw the fans of Celtic as the sole recipient of the award with the official FIFA blurb from that year reading: “The fans of Celtic FC were honoured for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour at the UEFA Cup final in Seville, which pitted the Scottish club against FC Porto. Despite losing the match, the “Bhoys” supporters, around 35,000 of whom travelled to Spain, celebrated in the stands and on the streets of the Andalusian city with passion and joy, helping to further underline that football and peaceful celebration can go together hand-in-hand.”
I suppose we in England can nick 1/32th of the award in 2006 too as it was awarded to the fans of the World Cup in Germany that year, with the “special atmosphere inside and outside the stadiums setting a highly impressive example of unity and understanding between different nationalities and cultures.” Three years later though and it was definitely a home run for England as Sir Bobby Robson was posthumously awarded a FIFA Fair Play trophy in December of 2009 following his death from cancer at the age of 76 in July of that year. The award collected by Lady Elsie Robson, the widow of the legendary England boss who was involved in a playing and managerial capacity in football for an incredible 54 years.